Happy Birthday Jesus Playdate

Today we had a playdate with our PALS. It was a Birthday Party for Jesus and it was SO much FUN!! We read My Merry Christmas And the real reason for Christmas joy, ate cupcakes, played with Nativity sets, and made a cute craft.

As you've seen through my blog many times, we like to host playdates ALOT! Normally, at least once a month and sometimes more. Since the playdate is not just for me, I get the kiddos to help me to get ready for them.

Last night, they helped me clean. I gave them each a squirt bottle filled with a vinegar water mixture and a wash cloth.

They each went throughout the house and cleaned. Now... they do not do an excellent job, but I am right behind them helping and the main point is that they are contributing and at least getting the dust.

Then they helped to make the cupcakes from scratch.

They turned out EXCELLENT!! We used this cake recipe and this frosting recipe.

We also decorated for our playdate since it was a Birthday Party!


I used this idea for making our craft, but did it alittle differently as I was working with young children. We painted on paper with blue, white, and black OR yellow paints to make a sky and a ground.

Then we pressed on a stable, baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

I think they all turned out so pretty.

Ok, have ya'll noticed that I am a sucker for children's art work?!? I always think it is so pretty!!


We made these yesterday to see about doing them at the playdate today, but they were alittle too difficult for some of the younger kids to make and would have been alittle too Mommy made for my liking so we decided not the make them at the playdate. But my kiddos did enjoy making them... we tore green paper and glued it on, glued on a stable, manger, baby Jesus, and raffia (hay).

Nativity Craft

Last year Aidman made this awesome nativity craft at school! I LOVED it so much that I had to make more. I went to the craft store and bought a pack of wooden craft pieces and hot glued them all together and then let the kiddos paint them.


What you'll need is:
5 popsicle sticks
3 small (short) craft sticks
1 star
1 heart
1 small triangle
2 medium circles
1 small circle
2 medium ovals
1 small oval

Angel Craft

We got the book Albasters Song by Max Lucado from the library this week. My kiddos really like it! I have been planning on having the kids make footprints angels, but just haven't gotten to it yet. Well, today I am one IMPRESSED and PROUD Mama!!

Aidman saw some styrofoam plates and said "I need scissors, and glue, and glitter so I can make an angel". I am SO happy that I listened and gave it all to him right away (sadly I don't always do that and this has showed me that I NEED to!!). When he finished he asked for a pipe cleaner halo.

Seriously, I am THRILLED about his creativity. I did ask him if he'd ever made or seen one of these angels before and he said that he made angel wings like that at preschool last week. But still, to see something and ask for all the materials and then make it by himself was pretty good.


Lyssy of course, wanted to do the same thing as her brother. She decorated everything herself, I cut it all for her (only because styrofoam is hard to cut), and she put it together.

Open Ended Art ~ Hans Hoffman

This weeks Open Ended Art over at Mommies Little Artist is to be inspired by Hans Hoffman. I started off by showing the kiddos several of Hans Hoffman pieces. We talked all about his artwork and how he used alot of rectangles. Then we decided to make our own rectangle artwork.

I broke out some of my scrapbooking stencils that only get used for kids art since I NEVER scrap anymore.

The kiddos LOVED using them to paint with.

Afterwards, I asked if they wanted to paint around their rectangles like Hans Hoffman did, and they said yes!

Here is Aidman's. He ended up using the square stencil.

Her is AB's work.

And here is Lyssy's work. I think this one looks the most like a Hans Hoffman piece.

When we have the paint out they CANNOT make just one painting!! So they painted more. This time they all decided to make vegetable gardens, I wish I would have taken a picture of the finished product to show because these gardens are very impressive!!

Christmas Shrits

The other night I got together with some friends to make Christmas shirts for our kiddos. I think they turned out SO CUTE!!

Quicky Muffin Tin Monday

WHOOT WHOOT!! We FINALLY got back to Muffin Tin Monday!! This was NOT my best ever MTM, but after several weeks off from it, it was nice to get back to this fun Monday ritual.

I was planning to do a nice lunch for the kiddos in their Christmas muffin tins, but then planned a last minute trip to the library followed by a lake front picnic after preschool today. So, MTM was left for snack time. The kiddos shared a tin of yogurt, small pieces of candy cane, and dried papaya spears. It was a yummy snack and they were THRILLED that it was Muffin Tin Monday again!!

Advent Calendar

Last year when I first started reading blogs I came along a post on the Crafty Crow about advent calendars. After just taking down my first ever Thankful Tree, I just HAD to put something up in it's place and I LOVED the idea of an activity advent calendar.

So... I made this one. I LOVE it. It looks pretty and elegant in my kitchen and it's full of holiday charm.


The BEST part is that my kiddos LOVE it too! The day after Thanksgiving, they were begging to take down the thankful tree in order to put up the advent calendar. I did go ahead and put it up but, too bad for them that they'll have to wait until December 1st to do their first activity.


Our activities include:
~Many local events: Holiday Walkabout, the Parade, Lights of Lakeland, PALS Christmas Dance, Christmas Lane, and Ice Skating.
~Special Gifts: Christmas socks, PJ's, and a new Christmas book.
~Fun times together: having a tea party, making ornaments, watching Christmas movies, making pizza for dinner, game nights, going to the park, going on a nature hike, making Holiday crafts, and making candy and cookies.

Completed Thankful Tree

LOOK how beautiful our Thankful tree turned out!!! Just like last year this tree was such a hit. Every night as we sat down to dinner the kiddos would be jumping to tell us what they were thankful for that day. You could tell that they'd been thinking about it because we never had to wait to hear their response, they were ready right away. I am so thankful to have such grateful children!!

Aidman was thankful for things like "The Whole Wide World" and the "Lovely Fall".
Lyssy was thankful for different family members, classmates, and "Seeds".
Mama was thankful for "hugs and kisses" and "the Thankful Tree".
Daddy was thankful for "The Yankees winning the World Series".


I truly hope to and am determined to keep doing this tradition year after year!

Life Changes

You may have noticed that I haven't blooged nearly as much lately as I have in the past.... It is because I got a job! Wait till you hear my story! It's such a God thing!!

I really needed to help supplement our family income so I started looking for an evening job to work at after Daddy got home from his work, so basically I wouldn't get to see Daddy 4 to 5 nights a week. Mostly, I was applying at retail stores. After about 10 different applications with only one interview I was feeling alittle down. My friend emailed me asking me to ask some of my playgroup mamas if they were interested in a part time job. I told her that I was and 3 days later I had the job! I am an ART TEACHER at Gymboree!! I work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9-1. Daddy is able to work from home on Thurs and the kiddos have school on Friday, so I am not missing that much time with my family!!! I couldn't ask for a better situation!!!

I promise to have more fun activities posted as soon as I get into a good routine!

Thankful Tree

Last year I got this bright idea to cover my blank kitchen wall with a tree. The idea was for every member of the family to add a leaf to it everyday. The leaf was to say what we were thankful for that day. Each family member has a color leaf, that way we know who is thankful for what. It was a GIANT success!!! My children really touched my heart in so many ways and really learned about being thankful.

The day after Halloween, Aidman said to me "Mom, Halloween is over. When are we gonna get our Thankful Tree?" Well, how can I deny him??? I was actually already planning on putting it up, I just wasn't fast enough for my 5 year old boy!

So here is 2009's Thankful Tree. It's going to be beautiful by Thanksgiving!!

If you wanna see how it will look at the end of the month you can see a picture of last years tree here.

Trunk or Treat!

For the past 3 years we have been doing a Trunk or Treat with our playgroup! It was a giant event this year! There were games set up for the kiddos to play and 35 families decorated their trunks! This is the Ghost town trunk I came up with. Here are some of my favorites....

Jaws

The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

We reap what we sow

Alice in Wonderland. This one went all out (even decorated the chocolates!).

Princess tea party

PALS Pumpkins are Priceless (those are pictures of our kids sticking out of the pumpkins)

Strawberry Patch (it even smelled like strawberries)

Cute kidmade pumpkins

Supergirl Lyssy went flying!!

The kiddos had a FANTASTIC time and got TONS of candy! Our favorite part is checking out all the cool trunks!